OHS starting to piece together anniversary party
David Munger, a budding documentary film producer whose day job is being a student assistance services counselor at Odessa High School, has some questions for you.
Do you have any memorabilia from the early days of Odessa High School?
Can he borrow it?
Obviously, the second one is much more important. After all, I'm writing this column in hopes of helping him out with that second one. A yes to the first one would just be frustrating if the answer to the second one turns out to be "no."
Munger is part of the team at OHS that is putting together a September celebration of the 100th anniversary of the school. You know the one that started over on Ninth Street and Lee Avenue before moving over to the 1300 block of Dotsy Avenue.
The effort is headed up by principal Ron Leach and Stephanie Tercero, an OHS science teacher and Students in Philanthropy adviser, Munger said.
"She's just an outgoing, go-get-'em type of girl, and I'm sure that's why Ron Leach tagged her for this," Munger said.
Munger's job is to help put together a video showing the history of the school. To be thorough, he's trying to scare up artifacts from as far back as he can.
"The stuff from the '80s and '90s, everybody's got that. I need photos and memorabilia from the '60s, the '50s, the '40s, the '30s - you know we've got 10 decades, there's not a lot of that stuff around," Munger said.
And while he's working on just the video portion of the anniversary fete, Munger, if you'll pardon the pun, also sees the bigger picture in this. He wants people to understand the significance of this anniversary.
"It's a great opportunity for the community to realize what it has," Munger said. "It's a great opportunity to take stock of what we have and what we want it to become."
"There's not that many high schools in the country that are 100 years old, and we've got one of them," he said. "How many things are there in Odessa that are 100 years old?"
Munger also wants this to be a history lesson for students and the rest of us. He even brought up the time when "Washed in the Blood" author Shelton Williams and some alumni were touring the school a few years back. The visit created quite a buzz among students.
Munger contends the 100th anniversary should create a huge stir in terms of history.
And he wants the whole community involved. He even wonders if the school could thank Permian for 50 years of rivalry, but he's afraid that idea "may be a little pie in the sky."
If you've got something that might be useful for Munger, give him a call. The number's over there in the red box to the left.
Oh. By the way. Munger's got two other questions: 1. Whatever happened to the Odessa High Mules? 2. Why is there an "h" in Broncho?
Some things may just remain a mystery.
